Jacinda Ardern's personalised video message for Rotorua classroom

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has sent a heartfelt video message to a Rotorua classroom after their teacher reached out to her in lockdown.

Room 2 teacher Nikki Filipo at Rotorua's Lynmore Primary School sent a message to the Prime Minister over lockdown, inviting her to join one of their class zoom calls.

As expected, Ardern was a little tied up at the time but got back to the school via video message today.

"Kia ora to everyone at Lynmore School," a smiling Ardern said.

She said she did not get a chance to join the classroom over Zoom but she wanted to send a quick message saying "welcome back!".

"I hope you are all enjoying being back in the classroom and seeing your friends again."

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has sent a heartfelt video message to a Rotorua classroom. Photo / Supplied

Ardern went on to mention two young boys from the school, Josh and Andrew in Room 8 who reached out to her with a class inquiry around the same time.

She said, "I think it's really great your thinking about how to help your community and local businesses right now".

It was a "really tough time for some businesses" and the government was doing "as much as we can to help", she said.

"We are making sure they have enough money to pay workers and working really hard to protect important tourism sites,

"I know they'll really appreciate your help too."

Ardern said she really liked the boy's idea to create advertisements to encourage people to visit local businesses.

"I'm sure you'll think of some other really creative ways to support local businesses,

"Good luck with your project!"

The video ended with a big smile, well wishes and a friendly "ka kite".

"Kia ora to everyone at Lynmore School," a smiling Jacinda Ardern said. Photo / File

Teacher Nikki Filipo said she had reached out to the Prime Minister over lockdown as many of her students were struggling with the new online learning system.

"In light of this, I thought why not try and get the Prime Minister on board to share the experience with them."

Filipo said having older students meant they had followed the news of coronavirus closely and watched the decisions the Prime Minister was making every day.

Someone from Ardern's office got back to Filipo and they almost had a chance to have the Prime Minister live in the classroom.

However, as more pressing things popped up, they were "bumped off the list", she said.

Filipo had forgotten about it until today when the "lovely" voice message popped into her email.

"The children were absolutely buzzing, I think they watched it about six or seven times,

"This is something they will remember forever I'm sure."